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I got a message on Ancestry yesterday. It was about someone looking for information about Pauline Chagnon, Isabel Chagnon’s sister…

Original post (January 24, 2013)

I had found Freida’s maiden name back in 2012.

Freida was Freida Kaminski. Then she married Harry Bleau and became Freida Bleau.

Freida Kaminski and Harry Bleau

I had a hunch…

The 1920 U.S. Census. This was the proof I needed. Harry Bleau, son-in-law of Frank Kaminski.

Fredrica Bleau, daughter of Frank Kaminski.

Frank Kaminski was born in Germany.

I was then able to put some names on these people.

Freida Kaminski Bleau on the far left was with her brother Peter Kaminski, then Peter Kaminski‘s wife Isabel Chagnon, their child Pauline Kaminski, and Isabel Chagnon’s sister.

In this next picture Pauline Kaminski had grown up to be a beautiful little girl. She was on the left. Her little brother Peter Kaminski Junior was on Freida’s lap.

Pauline Kaminski was 6 and Peter Kaminski Junior was 4 years old. But what about the girl on the right. She was John Kaminski’s daughter. I had no name until I got this comment on my blog this week.

Wow! These photos are my family! My mother, Pauline Kaminski and her brother, Peter are with my Nana (Freida Kaminski Bleau) and their cousin, Joanie. I would like to know more about your search and our connection.

End of the original post

What about the comment (edited)?

Pierre,
I am the son of Pauline B. Chagnon. I joined Ancestry.com and recently found you Family Tree for the Chagnon family. After Marie Rose Bleau Chagnon died, my mom was a boarder at St. Ann’s Orphanage in Worcester Ma. and later ( ?) lived with her aunts Amelia and Levine. I don’t have dates. Do you have any information regarding Pauline’s life around 1907 to 1933 when she married my dad? I appreciate any input you can provide.

Perhaps you can help? Trying to trace my paternal grandfather’s parents and grandparents. He was Aurelius Joseph Lagasse, born 1896 or so in Canada. Anything about the children of: Adolphe, Henri, Joseph, Idola, Damase, or Ambroise? Merci beaucoup!

The post I wrote:

Marcelline David was Pierre Lagacé’s wife. She was also Adolphe Lagasse’s mother.

She also had these children:

Joseph

Henri

Marie-Anne Émilie

Damase

Joséphine

Adélia

Clara

Marie

Idola

Ambroise

Click on the image for a larger view

She is certainly the ancestor of many Lagasses living in the U.S. One of them is Alyce LaGasse. I know that Ambroise Lagasse also went to the States and lived there.

I will post an article on him one day.

While searching for Lagasses, I found this…

This is Marcelline David’s death certificate on the Mormons’ site.

Click on the image it will appear in another window

It says Davies… but it is David.You can trust me on that. She died of a heart disease. Her son Adolph Lagasse was the undertaker. Her father was Hubert David and her mother was Josephte Séguin. Hubert David married Josephte Séguin in 1815. That’s quite a way back.

This is a draft post I wrote on May 26, 2010. I could I have waited on May 26, 2017 to publish it, but maybe I will have so much to write about my DNA results that it might never be published.

This is Idala LaGasse.

Idola LaGasse in 1930

This is one of his five sons.

David LaGasse in 1935

David LaGasse has to be very proud of his daughter. She wanted to find her father’s ancestors.

This is the beautiful story of distant cousins living 3000 miles apart who both wanted to find their roots. Pierre lives in Quebec and Alyce lives on the West Coast. They are distant cousins but their family ties are strong so is their addiction to genealogy and old pictures.

Pierre would very much like to own a picture of his great-grandfather Stanislas Lagacé born in 1842. He knows he was still alive back in 1912 when his grandfather Léo Senior first got married. Stanislas Lagacé was known as Dennis Lagassee and he lived in Bristol, Connecticut.

This is a picture of Pierre’s grandfather taken around 1933. He believes the picture was taken in Montreal.

Léo Lagacé Senior 1933

Léo Lagacé Senior is with his first two sons: Léo Junior, who is Pierre’s father, and Marcel who is in the wheelchair. Léo Lagacé Senior was a tailor. That’s what Pierre’s father told him when he was young. Pierre’s father did not talk much about his parents, so Pierre knew almost nothing.

This is Pierre’s father.

Léo Lagacé Junior 1950

Léo Junior became a fireman on May 10, 1950. Léo Senior Lagacé and David LaGasse were second cousins which makes Léo Junior and Alyce third cousins also. Léo Senior Lagacé and Idala LaGasse were first cousins. Pierre doesn’t believe they ever met, but maybe they did.

You see Léo Senior lived in the United States. He emigrated there in 1889 with his parents Stanislas Lagacé and Henriette Alexandre when he was one years old. Henriette had 13 children. Léo Senior came back to Quebec in 1907 and settled in St-Hyacinthe.

Two years ago Pierre knew nothing about his grandfather’s parents. There was nothing on the Internet at that time. So Pierre went looking for them. Someone gave him a clue and he kept on searching and searching.

This is the final result of his research…

Now if you type “Stanislas Lagace” on Google… this is the first thing you will find

This was posted in 2010. Alyce and I have been searching for George’s descendants since.

We had no luck.

Let’s go back in time…

If you have been reading my blog since the end of April [2010], you know that Alyce said that her grandfather Idala Lagasse had five sons.

She only knew the identity of two them: Samuel and of course David who was her father. Alyce and I managed to find the identity of all of them. Alyce told me the family lost track of George. Alyce managed to get some information with the help of another Pierre. He is Peter Lagasse and he sent her this precious information…

This confirms what we knew about George. His mother’s maiden name was Quintin, he was born around 1907-1908 in Massachusetts according to the 1920 U.S. census.

1907-1985

Alyce, Pierre, and Peter have teamed up, and George has now been reunited with his four brothers.

Finding George was quite something. This is the story of a great family reunion, but it is the only information we have found about George. If you want to team up with us and share what you know about him, click here to send me an e-mail…

Next time, we will meet Rudy and his wife Emma and try to find his descendants.

Rudolph (Rudy) Lagasse and his wife Emma

Yesterday Alyce sent me a message…

Hi Pierre…

Hope all is great – and all your grand babies are well and happy!

Your posts have certainly displayed a new (or at least to me) love – planes, military etc… huge area to discover. Quick question – my father David, had a long lost brother George who disappeared to LA CA …no one had apparently heard of him again. I found this but cant get anything on his spouse and with a name like Lucky LaGasse … she should be easy! I’d like to see if they had any kids and maybe they are near me in CA.

My name is Tammy Middleton and one day while my children and I were searching for different things on the net, we found this location and hoped that maybe you could help my children solve their mystery of who they are.

Not much is known from their side of the Lagasse family as most are dead or they no longer live in our state of Virginia and their father left us with no form of contact or link to the Lagasse past.

All I know is that the Lagasses from their side came from Rhode Island. My childrens father’s name is Thomas Earl Lagasse, Jr. and his father was of course Thomas, Sr. and his father was Roy Lagasse.

Roy had another son named David Lagasse, one brother named Earl Lagasse who was living in the Florida area, and one sister named Ester.

If this links with your family or Emeril’s please contact us as my children would dearly love to know about their past and if course if they are related to Emeril.

We love his show and somehow it makes my children feel special as if their name could really mean something instead of just a name in the dark with no past and no future to past on to their children.

Thank you for your time.

Tammy Middleton

I sent Tammy an e-mail but it bounced back…

I can understand why because she posted her message in 2001.

The chances are quite slim that Tammy is right now reading my blog so is Emeril Lagasse…

That was before I met virtually Dennis Lagasse the Fourth from Connecticut, and more than 100 precious old pictures his father Lionel had kept.

Boy was I excited!

Time flies doesn’t it?

Last day of July.

Is time spent looking for our ancestors a waste of time…?

Of course it’s not.

Brian LeGacy told me he could not get to sleeep after I gave him a helping hand and he started digging for himself.

Is it worth losing sleep over our ancestors…?

Of course it’s worth.

Some psychologists say that we can find strength when we discover our roots.

I am no psychologist but I think we might have something there.

Pierre Lagacé and his brother Stanislas Lagacé (Dennis Lagasse) on a park bench probably in Connecticut probably around 1905

You see back in 2007 when I started getting interested in genealogy I did not know Stanislas Lagacé had ever existed. Of course I knew I had a great-grandfather but I knew nothing of my grandfather’s parents. Four years later, I am helping people find their roots.

Joseph Mignier dit Lagacé was the son of Michel Mignier dit Lagacé. You will find some information on the Internet and some also on Ancestry.

But beware!

Some information that are suggested might be erronous down the road. I just found out on Ancestry that some people have “discovered” André Mignier dit L’Agacé grandparents!

Wow that is quite a big surprise…!

WRONG!

I don’t mind some little errors on dates, but this couple got married in 1802! André Mignier came in New France in 1665 with the Carignan Salières regiment.

Oups…

I won’t lose any sleep over this, but I find it a little annoying when some people put such wrong information about their ancestors or other people’s ancestors….

This reminds me of a distant 3rd cousin of mine who had my mother’s birthdate wrong on his family tree. I told him politely. He never changed it!

It’s about this picture scanned by a stranger on the West Coast of the United States whose husband is a very distant relative. I won’t write about it so if you are interested you will have to read the sequel which has three posts.